Government plan to privatise BPCL needs Parliament nod

New Delhi: The government is considering a proposal to sell India's second-largest state refiner and fuel retailer BPCL to foreign and private firms but the privatisation plan will need a prior nod of Parliament, officials said. Privatisation of BPCL will not just shake up fuel retailing sector long dominated by state-owned firms but also help meet at least a third of the government's ₹1.05 lakh crore disinvestment target. The Supreme Court had in September 2003 ruled that BPCL, as well as Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd, can be privatised only after Parliament amends a law it had previously passed to nationalise the two firms. The Supreme Court had in September 2003 cited the ESSO Act and the Burmah Shell Act, 1976 and Caltex Act, 1977 to rule that the government cannot privatise HPCL and BPCL without approaching Parliament for changing the Nationalisation Act. We find that on the language of the Act such a course is not permissible at all," Justice S Rajendra Babu and G P Mathur wrote in the September 16, 2003 order "restraining the Central Government from proceeding with disinvestment resulting in HPCL and BPCL ceasing to be Government companies without appropriately amending the statutes concerned suitably."